Same Difference? Transnationalism, Comparative Literature, and Victorian Studies

Abstract

At the end of Notes on England (1872), literary critic and historian Hippolyte Taine asks, "Which of the two forms of civilisation is the more valuable, that of England or that of France?" (373). Although this may seem like a rhetorical question, Taine proceeds to answer it with solemn precision. "Three things are superior in England": its political constitution, religion, and power of wealth. "On the other hand, three things are better in France": its climate, distribution of wealth, and domestic and social life (375). Taine's equivocal response to his question illustrates the difficulty of truly differentiating between France and England, two nations perpetually opposed yet perpetually balanced.